Re: Old Drag Car Pictures.........
 

Professor Benny is not a Day-2 guy as we call it. He is a drag guy with some vintage Day-2 parts on that red nova. But, the Professor is learning. May have him talked into some Day-2 dealings on that silver COPO. Lets see what the Lehighton Flash may have up his sleeve for November in Chicago! BBBBenny and the Day-2 Jets. I can see it on his camaro doors now!

Re: Old Drag Car Pictures.........
 

Heres my dads Chevelle and Maple Grove in the late 70s.
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e4...003_edited.jpg

Re: Old Drag Car Pictures.........
 

same car approximately 10 years later at MG
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e4...NNINWILD-3.jpg

Re: Old Drag Car Pictures.........
 

Absolutely amazing!

Good job, keep them rolling!

Re: Old Drag Car Pictures.........
 

Pic taken by my Uncle at Maple Grove. Check out the chevelle also aside of the tower. Grump is standing behind the prostock
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e4.../vintageMG.jpg

Re: Old Drag Car Pictures.........
 

who's the big guy bending over talking to Grump?

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The big guy is Paul Thimm Sr. He lives in Mohton, Pa right near the track. His son races an Ex Grump Vega(im almost positive its an ex grump car) in the weekly bracket series at Maple Grove.

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very good Steve. You are a smart cookie! Yes, an ex Grump Vega is correct.

Re: Old Drag Car Pictures.........
 

Thanks! My uncle said to look closely aside of grump and see who it was. I knew it right away. It's funny, if you were to snap a pic today at the race track he stands in the exact same spot watching. Also my uncle said the guy in the striped shirt is mike Lewis.

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yep, Mike Lewis. Who is driving the Grumps car?

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I believe it's Joe Lepone Jr.

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either Joe or Ray Allen.

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Didnt Larry Lombardo drive Grumps cars also?

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Don't think Larry drove into the later camaro years though. Bill started to drive again in late 79-80 I believe. Larry probably drove the camaro all of or most of 79.

Re: Old Drag Car Pictures.........
 

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: W117Monte</div><div class="ubbcode-body">http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e4.../vintageMG.jpg </div></div>

That Ford Fairmont was almost bought by me, would have been another car going overseas [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/naughty.gif[/img]

It had a BOSS 429 engine but we wanted just the chassi. I think they asked $25.000 for it back then in 1982.

Jan

Re: Old Drag Car Pictures.........
 

WOW, a close one. At least that old Pro car got saved! HA! You guys must be robbing banks over there.

Re: Old Drag Car Pictures.........
 

These are pics of the later Tony Meehan,a local legend in my area. One interesting thing I see on this car is that it is probably one of the few 2nd gens ever with an axle in the front.

Click on the pics to open them,then click on them again to enlarge them to read the text.

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u...gazine1001.jpg

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u...gazine2001.jpg


http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u...gazine3001.jpg

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u...Raceway001.jpg

And if you like 1st gens,here are some of Tony's SS396/375 67.

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u...News2001-1.jpg

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u...rkNews2001.jpg

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Saw the car run a few times at Raceway Park!

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Here's a picture of my 68 Hurst Olds charging down the 1/4 mile at Seattle some time in '68 with Lynn Welfringer at the wheel...

Sorry for the crappy scan...My restoration is finally nearing completion. http://www.classicperformance.com/ebay_pics/RACEHO.JPG

Re: Old Drag Car Pictures.........
 

Jim - that is good news. Please keep us posted (members rides) with photos of this terrific car. Glad someone took the time, effort, and $ to bring this car back to its former glory.

Re: Old Drag Car Pictures.........
 

----Keep up the good work, Jim!!! Cant wait to see this awsome Olds finally done. It has that &quot;rest of the story&quot; part all wrapped up in spades.....Bill S

Re: Old Drag Car Pictures.........
 

I have to say that it's always a fun time at the Maple Grove swap meet come springtime. I always seem to find some awsome photographs by Carl Rubrecht. He has so many awsome photos, that I could be at his stand all day long. I tried to scan his card, but it didn't come out for some reason?
These photos were taken by him.

[img:center]http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/j...11094807PM.jpg[/img]

[img:center]http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/j...11094327PM.jpg[/img]

[img:center]http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/j...11094654PM.jpg[/img]

[img:center]http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/j...11094912PM.jpg[/img]

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Great vintage pics....wow!

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Richie Zul nworking on the Grumpy's old 70 Camaro when he first bought it in about 1972.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...r7391/zul4.jpg

Re: Old Drag Car Pictures.........
 

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: John Brown</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Jerry Marquart, New Paris Indiana. D/Altered 55 Chevy with a 288 incher.

https://www.yenko.net/attachments/361299-MarqBadJose.jpg

He won Comp eliminator, first ever Popular Hot Rod meet, Martin Michigan, 1969 </div></div>

Jerry Marquart was my Uncle. I used to sit on his workbench and drink Orange Crush from his soda machines. Anyone have any more shots of him in action?

I was also told that he started Competition Engineering..was wondering if this was true?

I dont remember much of him besides the soda, not even when he died in a car accident....

Re: Old Drag Car Pictures.........
 

Sorry that I don't have more Ben, those two pictures are all I have found on the internet, one of the 55 and another where he is bent over the fender of his 63 Corvette. True, he did start Competition Engineering, but it wasn't the one that is now famous for selling chassis parts and such. It was on North Main Street in New Paris, Indiana, right next to the church parking lot. Jerrys claim to fame was his really high horsepower small block engines and very clean cars. I have some friends that ran his engines. I'll see if they have any other pictures. Oh, I understand Carol had a scrap book made up for all of his grandchildren to see. Have you seen the scrapbook yet?

Re: Old Drag Car Pictures.........
 

Thanks John, I just recently (past 5 years) reconnected with Carol and will have to send her a Facebook message. I knew I got the blood for hearing/feeling the pulse of an open header from someone in my family, lol

Sadly, I wish many times I would have had more time with him, learning cars, engines and screaming HP.

My father got into the resto of Ford Falcons, but wasnt much for power and umph...

Thanks for the info on the Comp Eng aspect, I always had an idea of them being different companies.

Re: Old Drag Car Pictures.........
 

Found a Picture at HAMB

http://i517.photobucket.com/albums/u...minocamero.jpg

Re: Old Drag Car Pictures.........
 

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Carleen</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Found a Picture at HAMB

http://i517.photobucket.com/albums/u...minocamero.jpg </div></div>

Now this is a cool picture!! Check out the front fender engine displacement marker on the Camino....

Thanks for posting

Rich

Re: Old Drag Car Pictures.........
 

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Jerry@CHP</div><div class="ubbcode-body">One of the truly legendary sportsman race teams of the '60s that is still racing today. Dave and Ben Wenzel. Bought the car new, won Indy in 1967, set multiple national records and still race the car 41 years later. Not many can say that today?? Many don't know that Ben bought a new COPO car from Berger in June 1969. There were 23 of them on the lot at that time. He wanted the cheapest one!

This photo was taken in Vegas in 2005. Both Ben and I won class at this race! The Z28s beat up on the big block Novas that weekend. Ben had Jim Hughes in the final and I had Gary Waldo. We also changed the ring &amp; pinion at the track in my car for the altitude change.

Jerry </div></div>

A &quot;Dave and Ben Wenzel&quot; story and a couple pics:

Some of you know my Dad was a diemaker at Chevrolet Flint Manufacturing (Pressed Metal Division), which is where they would make oil pans, rocker arms, valve covers, radiator supports, air cleaners, etc. As a result, one of the things Dad used to do was make special parts for Duntov. If Zora had something unique, like an air cleaner or special oil pan or something, he would call up to Flint (since that was where the base part was made) and ask for the die room to whip it up. He would ask for Dad, specifically, to make the parts for him (&quot;...I van da skeeny diemaker to make deese..&quot;).

One time Zora was doing a study on valvetrain geometry on small block Chevies, for wear vs lift, so he requested (via a sketch on a napkin) a batch of rocker arms to be made in various ratios: I think they started as low as 1.2:1, then incrementing up through 1.50, maybe 1.55, 1.60 and finishing up with a 1.65:1 ratio. He asked for 100 pcs of each, so Dad would run 100 for Zora (to ship to the Tech Center) , and then 100 for himself (and stick them in his locker).

Our paths would cross with Dave and Ben on occasion. Dad happened to see them up at Tri City one time, so he handed them a bag of these 1.65 ratio rocker arms and said &quot;here, try these&quot;.

They looked at him like &quot;...who are you and what are these and why should I try them?&quot;.

Dad said &quot;...just try them&quot;.

They did, and then they were REALLY flying. They got protested, torn down and the cam checked but were declared legal. Nobody ever did notice these special, production looking rocker arms that they were running.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...yal/img026.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...oyalwenzel.jpg

Re: Old Drag Car Pictures.........
 

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: MosportGreen66</div><div class="ubbcode-body">

Good eye Rob, you're right. I have an original of this photo hanging on the wall.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...en66/017-2.jpg

-Dan </div></div>

Here's a never before published photo of 'da Grump. This was taken at the GM Desert Proving Ground. Near as I can tell, it was some sort of engineering review, with a staged &quot;parallel performance comparison&quot;, as we liked to call them.

I happened to see it hanging in the lobby of the administration building as I passed through one day. I asked the DPG photographer for a copy and she was kind enough to make two originals from the negative for me.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...001/img079.jpg

Re: Old Drag Car Pictures.........
 

Sadly, I don't have any pictures of our cars going down the track (...yet...) but I do have several pics of getting ready to go racing - or just getting back from a day at the track:

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...1/63Covair.jpg

http://i1016.photobucket.com/albums/.../64gtotow1.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...1/64LeMans.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...8GTOresize.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3.../GTO/69GMC.jpg

Re: Old Drag Car Pictures.........
 

a few from the &quot;modern&quot; era:

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...001/towbar.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...01/trailer.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...trailersub.jpg

http://i1016.photobucket.com/albums/...scan0002-1.jpg

I have been racing this same Chevelle for 33 years now.

K

Re: Old Drag Car Pictures.........
 

Here are a few from Indy 1979 when they had the US Nationals 25th anniversary.

One of Dale Pulde and Mike Hamby's War Eagle. They ran a kind of mild engine combo of 426&quot; when all the others were up around 500&quot;. War Eagle did pretty good anyway with a more economical setup. They were also among the first teams to use 18-wheeler rigs. This year most of the Pro teams still had Chaparall-trailers and Crew-Cab Trucks.

http://www.protouring.se/files/war_eagle.jpg
http://www.protouring.se/files/truck.jpg

This one is from the roof of the motorhome that Strange Engineering parked at the finishline. On finalday it was crowded and a lot of racers came up after they had been out of the race. Lil'John Lombardo with another guy is reading a Swedish DragRacing magazine that I had brought with me. The two men at the right is Don Hardy (white shirt) and Chris &quot;The Greek&quot; Karamesines, I think they are looking through one of my other mags.

http://www.protouring.se/files/roof.jpg

I have some more photos that I can't find at the moment. When we arrived at the track on Wednesday afternoon we saw the first round of Funny Car Qualifying and what a round.
In 1979 not many Funny Cars had done any 5 second runs, I think it was only Don Prudhomme in 1975 and someone else in the summer of 79 before US Nationals.

Now we saw three straight runs with Ray Beadle in Blue Max 5.95, Gordie Bonin 5.97 and Billy Meyer 5.99. This was the only 5-second FC runs of that race and there were not that many people there that day to witness it. I am glad I did. I have photos of those passes but I still have to find them.


Jan

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Neat stuff Jan!

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http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i1...vaatOswego.jpg

This is a forest green 70 Nova L78 4 speed running at Oswego (IL) Drag Strip some time in 1970. It was owned by Dorothy Steele and driven by either Dorothy or her friend Bruce Thompson, both of Aurora IL. This car was raced from virtually day one, and occasionally street driven. When they finished with all the usual Day 2 mods and got it all dialed in, it ran 12-teens. They purchased most all the parts to build and install a ZL-1 in the Nova but that project languished. Bruce and Dorothy also bought a brand new dark green 72 Nova SS350 and modified and raced that for about a year. Then Bruce got drafted and eventually Dorothy sold the 70 to a friend of mine.

Re: Old Drag Car Pictures.........
 

Are they chrome skinny Ralley wheels up front? When did they fist start making the scene?

Car looks awesome. Got any other pics of it?

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some neat paint schemes from niagara.

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...h/Capture1.jpg

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...h/Capture2.jpg

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...h/Capture3.jpg

Re: Old Drag Car Pictures.........
 

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: pxtx</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Are they chrome skinny Ralley wheels up front? When did they fist start making the scene?

Car looks awesome. Got any other pics of it? </div></div>

Yes, those wheels were available in 15x4 size. I'm not sure when they were first produced, but as I noted, this is sometime in the spring or summer of 1970 so obviously they were available then. Sorry, I have no other pictures of the car [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/frown.gif[/img]

Re: Old Drag Car Pictures.........
 

that is a great shot. Yes, chrome Rally's were on Tony Pizzi camaro and also the 1966 427 Biscayne of Valerio Bros called the Pied Piper. I think I first remembered them in about 1972 or so. Love the nova hooking up with the wide Lakewoods and the semi-skinny slicks. YEAAA!